Ecclesiastes  

3 There is a time for everything and a season 

    for every activity under the heavens:

2 

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

3 

    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 

    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 

    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 

    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 

    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 

    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

These are my sentiments of the weekend.  

Read verse 4 again:  

4 

    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

I spent Friday night and the majority of my day Saturday being with my best girl as she prepared for her youngest daughter's wedding. 

It was joyous.  

It was funny.

It was a celebration.

My husband performed the ceremony, so he was engaged in the preacher thing that he does.

As things were winding down, my girl stood outside the reception going over what else she needed me to do and sharing our girl giggles that we share when my husband approaches and says that he has to go to the hospital.

It was just the three of us standing there so he told us that an older male friend of ours had just died.  It was sudden and completely unexpected.  We both asked him if he was serious.

Here we were in the peels of laughter and here comes a story that no one wants to hear - ever.

The flow of life is cycles.

Cycles give us time to reflect, renew and repair.

We both shed tears that we quickly brought under control so as to not alert the bride and groom.  We prayed together.  Then we worked.  (Probably one of the greatest reasons that we are so close - work is our release.)

There is a time to cry and a time to laugh.

My heart breaks for the surviving family of our friend especially his son; while at the same time rejoices in the beginning journey of the newly weds.

Thank you, Jesus.  While we experience sorrow, you can still bring joy.  Thank you for that vivid experience.  Please be with this family as they begin a journey that is long and hard.  Draw each one to lean on you.  Amen.

How about you?  Has God every put something in your path that just made you utter, "Thank you, Jesus!"

Surprises!!!

I LOVE cooking up surprises and I'm cooking one right now for my parents.  I have to sit on it till much later, but it's sooooooo exciting.


In 2002, my parents celebrated 50 years together.  This year will be 60 years.  That is amazing to me.  I've been married to Jim for 23 years and that feels like a lifetime to me.


About 4 years ago, my parents had a total fire loss of their home.  Everything.  Very little was salvaged and what was saved probably shouldn't have been.  I remember right before I returned to my home from the initial clean up I went into the room at my brother's house where he and mom were bunking.  I found him sobbing.  I just held him and reminded him that we still had him and mom the rest didn't matter compared to that.  The house burned for 6-7 hours while my parents slept.  I can't think about that much without a shutter.


In the house were generations of mementos and memories.  This is the house of my childhood and will always be home in my heart.  It was a 150 year old beam constructed farm house.


People graciously helped replace copies of pictures and the such.  There was one thing that dad had asked me about when he came to visit this winter.  I hadn't really thought of it much since 2002, but he asked me if I had a copy of the poem he wrote mom.


I looked when he asked, but couldn't find it.  I even thought I may have an electronic copy- nope.


I pack rat terrible and have annoyed myself to no return.  I'm cleaning.  I've been working in my sewing/craft room lately.  I was getting ready to throw away some scrapbooking scraps and fanned it.  Guess what?  Yep, there it was.  Treasure in a pile of trash.


Maybe one day, I'll ask if I can share the poem here, but for now the treasure is safe at heart.  I  love being the hero and today, I'm a hero.  I returned a gift from my father to my mother.  One they thought was lost forever.

Amendment One

Here in North Carolina, we are being asked to vote on a bill called "Amendment 1" or SB 106. In my rural, bible-belt area there are signs every where urging voters to vote yes.

Amendment 1 defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman and adding it to our constitution. (By the way, that is man's definition, not God's definition. 1 Corinthians 6:16).

I do want to share some thoughts about my process of deciding.

First and foremost-no matter how hard you try, you can never legislate morality. Not your morality - not God's morality. God gave us law, not to keep us in line, but to show us our deficiency to HIS righteousness. That is the whole point of a savior, my savior, Jesus. (Romans 8 - actually a study of all Romans will prove that point.)

Secondly, taking time to process and support these types of societal issues takes away from me dealing with my own problems. I've never done this but case in point: bombing abortion clinics. Or closer to home: harboring resentment against someone in my heart, gossip, lying. See, in my mind, this is failing to remove the telephone pole from my eye while inspecting the speck in someone else's eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

The greatest commandment is Love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, strength, and soul AND secondly love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40) Jesus defines neighbor in a parable called "The Good Samaritan". (Luke 10:27-37).

Thirdly, people who weren't like Jesus liked Jesus. Look at scripture. The outcast of the theological society flocked to Jesus. He was different. He never accepted their sin, just them as a person.
The thief: accepted;
the whore; accepted;
the leper: accepted
...want me to continue? ok:
the tax collector: accepted,
the poor widow: accepted;
the mixed breed: accepted;
the doubter,
the adulterer,
the alien,
the sick,
the feeble,
the contrite,
the unclean,
even Peter:
all accepted.

In that list there is not a group of religious people (the Pharisees and Sadducees). Those, he despised. People who made their version of his word and sold it as his word. Read the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Jesus loves people. He hated what they did/do sometimes, but even then he loves them. He loves God more though and that was his driving force. I do not call myself a Christian anymore because it is so perverted from the meaning. Christian means Christ like-to look like, act like and talk like Christ. I fail that miserably. I much prefer Christ follower or Christ disciple.

I don't mean to be so direct and mean, or argumentative but, Christian, please think about what you say when you start beating the drum or wielding the sword. I urge everyone who claims to be Christ's to ask and seek wisdom from God if this is God's bidding or self-righteousness.

Lord God, I want to focus on you, your love, your wisdom. I want to love people like you loved people. Live in and through me so that you may touch people in a special way. I want to be your vessel. Let every thought I have be your thought and guide my path with your word that I might please you and add to your kingdom. I love you, Lord.